In the first of two small-business spotlights this year, Business Review looks at six companies that are surviving, and even growing in West Michigan. The next spotlight is July 8.

Employees: 53 employees, plus nearly as many contractors
Est: 1997
Location: Grand Rapids Sales: $34 million
Top exec: Dan Behm, founder and president
Industry: I.T.
How did you beat the recession?“Beating the recession was a team effort. Our stated goal was to keep all of our people. As always, we were completely transparent with our approach. We shared our financials with the entire company each month letting them know what targets we needed to achieve so they did not have to worry about their jobs. Our team’s response was overwhelming, and we ended 2009 with the second-best year in the history of our company.”— Behm

OST had sales reps all over the Midwest — Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota — and had planned to start offices there, too. But it decided to choose two cities for hub offices — Grand Rapids and Minneapolis — and work on providing specialized services nationwide.

“So we’re able to get a little outside of Michigan’s economy, but we’re still able to do the hiring here in Michigan, which is really, really neat,” Behm said. “We’re able to help out the economy here, feel good about what we’re doing.”